Head of Plate: How the Political Elite Eat in Beijing

Regardless of what they’ve done for U.S.-China relations, there is no doubt about one thing: past visits by Vice President Joe Biden and more recently, first lady Michelle Obama, have left restaurateurs smiling.

This past weekend at the Schoolhouse, an American-run restaurant near the Great Wall where the first lady stopped with her family, customers were still aflutter with talk of what Mrs. Obama had eaten even days after her visit. For the first time on Sunday, to meet customer demand, the Schoolhouse introduced a “First Lady Meal,” featuring hand-pulled noodles topped with stewed pork. According to the cheery sign advertising the item, Mrs. Obama had evidently asked for seconds of that particular dish—no surprise, if a recent sample by China Real Time was any guide.

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So how does the first lady’s meal stack up against other local meals by dignitaries, including Chinese President Xi Jinping? This week, CRT put them to the test:

Yaoji Chaogan

Biden’s meal, a mixed bag.

Wayne Ma/The Wall Street Journal

Our experience of U.S. Vice President Joe Biden’s meal at the Yaoji Chaogan restaurant in Beijing was like Mr. Biden’s predilection for rhetorical gaffes: Sometimes delightful, other times cringe-inducing.

Mr. Biden’s entourage visited the family-run chain in 2011 as part of an official trip to China and sampled several local favorites, including black-bean paste noodles, cucumber salad, pea-flour cake and steamed meat buns. (They skipped the eatery’s famed fried liver.)

His visit later attracted scores of locals and tourists to the hutong hole-in-the-wall. Despite state media reports saying Yaoji had tried to capitalize on the attention by offering a “Biden Set Meal,” service staff told China Real Time that no such set existed. After some prodding, however, they reproduced the vice-presidential menu.

A plate of traditional Chinese steamed buns were served lukewarm, stuffed with a greasy meat-and-parsley filling that left an odd aftertaste. The bottom-half of the bun was soggy with oil, while the top was dry but tough.

The lightly pickled cucumber salad came marinated in a delicious, tangy sauce, and a plate of pea-flour cakes had a delightfully creamy texture reminiscent of the filling used in sweet potato pies at Thanksgiving. Neither dish was a standout by Beijing standards, but both were tasty.

Then there was the zhajiang mian, a favorite Beijing noodle dish served with pork-and-bean paste. The bowl was nicely garnished, with whole soybeans and slivers of pink turnip and cucumber marking a nice contrast to the dark sauce, though the noodles were limp. Fermented beans in the sauce were particularly pungent – a draw for Beijing natives, but a tad too overwhelming for this reviewer. Still, at 33RMB ($5.31), not too shabby.

– Wayne Ma

Don’t go out of your way to try Xi Jinping’s “Presidential Set Meal.”

Richard Silk/The Wall Street Journal

Qing-Feng Dumplings

Chinese President Xi Jinping put Qing-Feng Dumplings on the map with an impromptu visit in December, but gourmets who order what is now called the “Presidential Set Meal” may be disappointed.

The 21 yuan ($3.38) feast includes six pork-and-spring-onion dumplings, a plate of cold vegetables and a pot of gloopy liver stew.

The dumplings were passable, if a little dry, as though they had been standing about waiting for someone to order a Presidential Set Meal for some time. The cold vegetables, sweet and mixed with chili peppers, were almost tasty.

But the stew — a shiny, forbidding creation with a texture halfway between molasses and strawberry jelly — ultimately defeated this reporter.

Indeed, it cast a dark, livery shadow over the whole presidential experience. Finishing up the vegetables, it was hard not to feel despondent about the stew looming ahead. It was rather small but thoroughly opaque, prompting the diner to wonder what hidden pleasures might lurk at the bottom.

Across the street, a hole in the wall served up far better dumplings for one yuan a pop. Inside Qing-Feng, uneaten bowls of liver stew piled up on the Formica tables.

If this is where Mr. Xi Jinping really eats out when he’s off duty, he has taken his frugality campaign to the very limits of human endurance.

– Richard Silk

The Schoolhouse

One of multiple items Mrs. Obama tried at the Schoolhouse.

Te-Ping Chen/The Wall Street Journal

Michelle Obama’s choice of the Schoolhouse, a restaurant set in a converted old schoolhouse in an open-air courtyard backdropped by mountains, was perhaps no surprise. With a kitchen philosophy emphasizing local ingredients, the American-run restaurant—one popular with visiting officials from the U.S. State Department—was a natural destination for Mrs. Obama, who’s made locally grown foods one of her signature issues.

The “First Lady” meal (88RMB, or $14.16) came with thick, pleasantly chewy hand-pulled noodles and succulent, exceptionally melting bits of stewed pork. In an unusual twist on the peasant-style dish, it also came mixed with fresh herbs and some halved cherry tomatoes. On a recent visit to the sun-dappled courtyard, dogs gamboled around their owners’ tables, creating an idyllic scene.

Currently, the restaurant is planning only to replicate Mrs. Obama’s full meal, featuring several more fusion-style dishes, for large groups of diners, said part-owner Tang Liang.

But one of those items Mrs. Obama tried—a pan-fried mushroom ravioli topped with tomato sauce—was also recently on offer as part of a set meal with salad and dessert (158RMB, or $25.43). The dish was tasty and undeniably fresh, though the pan-frying seemed to add neither real texture nor flavor. If you’re planning to follow Mrs. Obama’s culinary map, CRT suggests you follow her lead and load up on the Chinese noodles instead.

About China Real Time Report

China Real Time Report is a vital resource for an expanding global community trying to keep up with a country changing minute by minute. The site offers quick insight and sharp analysis from the wide network of Dow Jones reporters across Greater China, including Dow Jones Newswires’ specialists and The Wall Street Journal’s award-winning team. It also draws on the insights of commentators close to the hot topic of the day in law, policy, economics and culture. Its editors can be reached at chinarealtime@wsj.com.